There is a proposed regulation put forth by the EPA that would prohibit the conversion of production cars into race cars as well as the sales of equipment to do so. This regulation is conveniently tucked into the seemingly unrelated "Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles—Phase 2" regulation.

This means that converting sports cars, sedans, hatches, and pretty much every vehicle that have commonly been used for track-day-only duties would be illegal. Yes, you read that right, it would be illegal. This takes the Clean Air Act to a completely different level. The Clean Air Act puts the kibosh on certain modifications if the driver wants to continue to drive them on the streets, but does not extend to those track day only vehicles.

It is not clear what vehicles would be allowed to be converted to track cars. Perhaps they mean that only special construction cars would be allowed to be used on tracks around the nation. Is the EPA looking to put an end to the race car and track day culture?

How much damage to the environment is a handful of drivers doing on the weekends compared to those that drive 80+ miles during their daily commute?

Check out the stand that SEMA is making in their press release below:

"This proposed regulation represents overreaching by the agency, runs contrary to the law and defies decades of racing activity where EPA has acknowledged and allowed conversion of vehicles," said SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting. "Congress did not intend the original Clean Air Act to extend to vehicles modified for racing and has re-enforced that intent on more than one occasion."

SEMA submitted comments in opposition to the regulation and met with the EPA to confirm the agency’s intentions. The EPA indicated that the regulation would prohibit conversion of vehicles into racecars and make the sale of certain emissions-related parts for use on converted vehicles illegal. Working with other affected organizations, including those representing legions of professional and hobbyist racers and fans, SEMA will continue to oppose the regulation through the administrative process and will seek congressional support and judicial intervention as necessary.

The EPA has indicated it expects to publish final regulations by July 2016.

Gee, the EPA will kill all cars that run gasoline. I am waiting for them to ban commercial planes converted to private use, you know like the 7x7 planes that wealthy liberals use... Oh wait, that will never happen, private planes are perfectly acceptable but damn you cars.....

EPA and NHTSA, on behalf of the Department of Transportation, are each proposing rules to establish a comprehensive Phase 2 Heavy-Duty HD) National Program that will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fuel consumption for new on-road heavy-duty vehicles.

emission standards are tailored to each of four regulatory categories of heavy-duty vehicles: Combination tractors; trailers used in combination with those tractors; heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans; and vocational vehicles.

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My guess this is another sneaky attack by republicans to cast the EPA in a negative light and to drum up public support to de-fang them. That way they can deregulate everything and make America look like china where its fine to dump oil down the street drain and everyone has to wear a mask to bike to work.

By the way, what is a "race" vehicle? people take their factory hellcats to the strip and road coarse and would be technically more a "racecar" than a honda with a cat back and CAI.

Just like the outcry in the 70s when catalytic converters were mandatory and everyone said it was gov over-reach and the death of the sports car or the new CAFE standards... yet here were are in the best time in automotive history and a new HP war.

My guess this is another sneaky attack by republicans to cast the EPA in a negative light and to drum up public support to de-fang them. That way they can deregulate everything and make America look like china where its fine to dump oil down the street drain and everyone has to wear a mask to bike to work.

By the way, what is a "race" vehicle... people take thier factory hellcats to the strip and road coarse and would be techinaclly more a "racecar" than a honda with a cat back and CAI.

Just like the outcry in the 70s when catalytic converters were mandatory and everyone said it was gov over-reach and the death of the sports car... yet here were are in the best time in automotive history and a new HP war.

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Sneaky attacks? LOL...Since when did the republicans take control of the national registry?.....And I was there in the 70s....Govt regulations just about killed the car industry and cost the American public a fortune. I don't disagree with the pollution controls.

But I also believe they forced the regulations before technology could make it feasible. Cars back in the 70s basically just had a band aid for pollution controls. I bet they were worst on the environment in the long run than we know.

I said on another posting that EPA was going to kill the muscle cars (actually it was an engineer from SRT that told me that at the 2014 SEMA show). This will be the start to regulation large motor cars and soon everything will be turbo'd 4 and 6 cyl for any type of power. He was saying by 2018 large motor cars will be regulated out due to emissions but looks like they are going other directions as well..... Thank goodness I got my Hellcat now

My guess this is another sneaky attack by republicans to cast the EPA in a negative light and to drum up public support to de-fang them. That way they can deregulate everything and make America look like china where its fine to dump oil down the street drain and everyone has to wear a mask to bike to work.

Just like the outcry in the 70s when catalytic converters were mandatory and everyone said it was gov over-reach and the death of the sports car or the new CAFE standards... yet here were are in the best time in automotive history and a new HP war.

i think its much ado about nothing.

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The republicans are not sneaky, the only ones that are sneaky is the Democrats and liberals trying to limit freedoms.

Second, the outcry of the 1970's was correct because cars were crappy and not as good as the pre 1972 era cars until the mid to late 1990's. Engineers are building great cars despite the government and liberal interference.

In other words, the wording included in the bill, and highlighted by SEMA, is not a newly established rule outlawing a previously allowed activity. Instead, with this language, the EPA seeks only to clarify the wording of an existing law—one that has been in place for many years, and that apparently has not hampered our current culture of amateur or semi-professional competition using production road vehicles in any way.

What isn't clear is how the EPA's newly clarified language will affect hobby racers going forward. The draft, as far as we've seen, does not include any proposal for enforcement. And as Tim Odell at Hooniverse points out, the law is not slated to go into effect until 2018, and it won't be retroactive. So even if it does pass as currently written, it will never apply to current racing-modified production cars, only to those produced in 2018 or later and purchased with the intent of being raced. That is, if the law passes at all.

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and... from the epa

This clarification does not affect EPA's enforcement authority. It is still illegal to tamper with or defeat the emission control systems of motor vehicles. In the course of selecting cases for enforcement, the EPA has and will continue to consider whether the tampered vehicle is used exclusively for competition. The EPA remains primarily concerned with cases where the tampered vehicle is used on public roads, and more specifically with aftermarket manufacturers who sell devices that defeat emission control systems on vehicles used on public roads.

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